Supreme Court: Cirrus Not Required To Train Pilot

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court says Duluth-based Cirrus Design Corp. had no legal duty to provide a flight lesson to a Grand Rapids man whose plane crashed in 2003, killing him and his passenger.

Wednesday’s opinion upholds an April 2011 appeals court decision that vacated a more than $16 million award for families of pilot Gary Prokop and passenger James Kosak.

The justices say suppliers have a duty to warn of dangerous products if it’s reasonable that someone could get injured. They say Cirrus did that by providing instructions, but training on safe use of a product is not required.